Astronauts Successfully Launch To ISS After Dramatic Mission Failure Last Year

Soyuz MS-12 space ship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station

AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky

Three people have successfully launched to space on a Soyuz rocket after two of them were part of a dramatic launch-abort last year when their rocket malfunctioned.

NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin were joined by NASA astronaut Christina Koch for the flight, which launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3.14 P.M. Eastern time.

The Soyuz MS-12 vehicle will take just six hours to reach its destination, the International Space Station (ISS), arriving at 9.07 P.M. Eastern time today. Here the Soyuz crew will join the existing three-person crew that’s already on the ISS, who recently welcomed the arrival of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft.

From left to right: Koch, Ovchinin, and Hague

At about 10.30 P.M. Eastern time, after the spacecraft has docked, the hatch will be opened and the Soyuz crew will enter the ISS. This will begin Expedition 59 on board the station, which will be especially notable for having the first all-female spacewalk, which is due to happen on March 29.

Hague, Ovchinin, and Koch will remain on the ISS until late 2019. This is the first flight to the ISS for Hague and Koch, and the second for Ovchinin.

For Hague and Ovchinin, this successful flight will be a welcome relief from their previous launch on October 11, 2018. Although that launch seemed to be going smoothly, the separation of the Soyuz rocket's boosters minutes after lift-off went awry, sending the spacecraft into a terrifying spin.

The mission had to be abandoned, forcing Hague and Ovchinin to return home in their Soyuz MS-10 vehicle instead of traveling to the ISS. They re-entered the atmosphere on a ballistic trajectory before landing safely near the town of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan.

Some had questioned whether that failed mission could have led to the ISS being abandoned, as with the Soyuz being the only crewed spacecraft that could reach the ISS, the fleet risked being grounded. But those fears were abated on December 3, when the Soyuz MS-11 vehicle successfully launched.

Now with this subsequent launch also successful, the ISS is up to its full capacity of six people once again, having operated with just three for the past few months. Things could start getting even busier in the next year or so, too, with both SpaceX and Boeing set to start sending new crewed spacecraft to the ISS as soon as this summer.